Lorenzo Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, before there was a town, before there was a cemetery, before there was hardly anything out here worth putting on a map, the Texas Legislature drew some lines. That was 1876, and what they drew was the Crosby Land District, carving out territory that would one day become several Panhandle counties.

The land sat there, wide and waiting. Ranchers moved in, as ranchers do. They saw the grass, they saw the space, and they started building big.

Then in 1890, a group of men with money and vision came together from a long way off. Brothers Avery, John Stuart, Howard, and Prentiss Coonley, all out of Chicago, joined with Julian Bassett of New York to form something called the C.B. Livestock Company.

Chicago. New York. Way out here in the Panhandle.

That combination alone ought to tell you something about what this land was starting to mean. By 1910, the company had bigger plans still. They plotted a rail line running from Crosbyton to Lubbock, and they platted towns right along the route.

One of those towns needed a name, and they named it for Lorenzo Dow, an attorney for the company. A town built along a rail line, named for a lawyer. That's the Panhandle for you.

Then in 1916, the C.B. Livestock Company deeded land at this very site to the county. Land set aside not for cattle, not for commerce, but for a community cemetery.

And that same year, the first burial took place. The marker says it was reportedly a child, taken by whooping cough. The first marked grave came two years later, in 1918, belonging to W.A.

Greenhill. From those quiet beginnings, the cemetery grew. Volunteers showed up.

Local groups formed. A cemetery association took on the work of maintenance, keeping the grounds and keeping the memory. The county held the property until 1995, when it sold to the City of Lorenzo.

Today, Lorenzo Cemetery stands as something more than a burial ground. It's a link, the marker says, to generations of men, women, and children who made unique and lasting contributions to this community. From a land district drawn in 1876 to a child lost in 1916 to everyone who followed, this ground holds the full story of a place that people built, and kept, and refused to forget.

What the marker says

In 1876, the Texas Legislature created the Crosby Land District, which included several present-day Panhandle counties. Ranchers soon began establishing large ranches throughout the region, and in 1890, brothers Avery, John Stuart, Howard and Prentiss Coonley of Chicago joined with Julian Bassett of New York to form the C.B. Livestock Company. In 1910, the company planned a rail line from Crosbyton to Lubbock, with towns platted along the route. It named the one here for Lorenzo Dow, a company attorney, and in 1916 it deeded land at this site to the county for a community cemetery. The first burial in Lorenzo Cemetery was reportedly that of a child who died of whooping cough in 1916. The first marked grave, dating to 1918, is that of W.A. Greenhill. Over the years, volunteers and local groups, including a cemetery association, have provided maintenance, helping to preserve th collective history of Lorenzo. The county sold the property in 1995 to the City of Lorenzo, and today the cemetery is a link to generations of men, women and children who made unique and lasting contributions to the community. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003